The invention relates to a fuel cell module with an integrated additional heater and to a plant with a fuel cell module of this kind.
Apparatuses with fuel cells which contain integrated additional heaters by means of which a prereformer is heated up to operating temperature in each case when putting the apparatus into operation are known from the patent specifications EP-A 0 654 838 and EP-A 0 780 917. The later specification describes a further development of the apparatus disclosed in the earlier specification. In this further development the additional heater has two further functions: a) heating up the air by means of which the cells are preheated when being put into operation; b) production of additional heat for heating purposes during the operation of the apparatus, with the fuel cells being used for the generation of electrical energy as well as of heat for heating purposes.